POSSESSION PENALTIES POSSIBLY REDUCED

The Alabama Sentencing Commission is seeking to change punishment for
marijuana offenders. "We're not talking about legalizing marijuana,"
said Rosa Davis, the attorney general's appointee through Alabama
Sentencing Commission. "We're just attempting to make the punishments
more effective."

The Sentencing Commission is a special committee of the Judicial Study
Commission to study sentencing policies and practices in Alabama.

In Alabama, the current punishment for first offenders is a misdemeanor.

Any further offense is a felony.

Davis said the main reasons for considering a change are effectiveness
and finances.

Prison is reserved for the most dangerous offenders, he said, and
burglars, rapists and murderers belong in confinement.

The question facing the commission is whether marijuana offenders
should be classified in the same category.

"We're staring a crisis in the face," Davis said. "Our prisons are at
200 percent capacity. A change has to take place."

Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy
Project, said criminal records can disrupt good people's lives.

"Responsible adults shouldn't have to face criminal sanctions just for
wanting to unwind with a joint like others do with a martini," Mirken
said.

Mirken said physical repercussions of marijuana use can be harmful,
but not hazardous enough to send users to prison.

Mirken works with the MPP to remove criminal penalties for marijuana
use and petitions for public policies to regulate its use.

Steven Smith, director of Substance Abuse Services for the Opelika
Addiction Center, said alcohol and marijuana cannot be fairly compared.

"Alcohol leaves the system quickly," Smith said, "But marijuana is fat
soluble and stays in the system."

Smith has dedicated his life to helping drug offenders and believes
treatment is the answer for addicts.

"I don't want anyone sent to prison for marijuana," Smith said. "If
you did the research you'd find very few people are put in jail for a
first time offense."

A close observation of our state's prisons would only cause more
questions, Davis said.

"Nobody likes the use of illegal drugs," Davis said. "But is prison
the answer, or is it just a graduate school for more crime?"